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Sleep Innovations, Flexible Foam Merge into Innocor
June 11, 2014,
Sleep Innovations to be Acquired by Sun Capital Partners
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.-Basic-bedding manufacturer Sleep Innovations and Flexible Foam Products, a manufacturer of polyurethane foam and carpet cushions, have merged and adopted the new corporate name of Innocor Inc.
In addition, Carol Eicher, previously business president of Dow's global coating and construction division, has been named president and CEO of Innocor. Serving as chairman of Innocor's board is Richard Brown, managing director of Sun Capital Partners, of which Innocor is an affiliate.
In an Innocor statement, Brown said the name Innocor was chosen to reflect "that innovation is at the core of everything we do."
Eicher said in the statement, "From our rich tradition of research-based innovations to our deep knowledge of industry trends, Innocor Inc. is committed to translating the science of foam into true product solutions for our partners."
Prior to joining Dow, Eicher was global business director of Rohm and Haas' primary materials division. Her career also includes manufacturing positions with Ashland Chemical Co. and E.I. du Pont de Nemours.
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2017 State of the Industry Report
Cautious Optimism, Mixed Results
Many expected 2016 would be a banner year, but the political and economic climate softened consumer confidence. It was also a year consumers spent more lavishly on home remodeling rather than decorating.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- TJX Unveils First U.S. Homesense Store - In a time when retailers are reducing store counts, TJX continues to get physical.
- Ikea’s Fluid Spaces - The retailer’s new intros reflect multifunctional rooms.
- N.Y. Home Fashions Market Preview - Textile textures get soft and cozy, colors warmer.


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|Iran-EU trade hits €2.8b in 2014: Eurostat||
TEHRAN – Trade between Iran and the European Union amounted to €2.8 billion in the first five months of 2014, a 5 percent increase compared to the same period in 2013, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat.
The EU exported €2.415 billion worth of goods to Iran during the 5-month period, a 4 percent rise compared to the year before, when the figure was €2.315 billion, the Tasnim News Agency reported on Sunday, citing Eurostat data.
EU imports of goods from Iran totaled €386 million from January to May 2014, an 11 percent rise compared to the €347 million in imports in the first five months of 2013.
Meanwhile, the value of EU exports to Iran exceeded €544 million in May 2014, a 43 percent rise compared to May 2013. EU nations imported €63.1 million worth of goods from Iran in May 2014, an 8 percent increase compared to May 2013.
Iran transacted non-oil goods with 177 countries in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, according to the Iran Customs Administration.
The balance of trade with 91 countries was positive.
The country exported $31.332 billion of non-oil goods, excluding gas condensates, and imported $50.818 billion of non-oil goods during the 12-month period.
Iran had the highest positive trade balance with Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Egypt, and Azerbaijan, while it registered the highest negative trade balance with the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Switzerland, China, and Germany.
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Sal Lupoli sets sights on restoring another mill building
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A decade after Salvatore Lupoli imagined the transformation of 1.4 million square feet of abandoned mill space at the edge of the Merrimack River in Lawrence, Mass., into an office and retail center, the chief executive of Sal’s Pizza, is poised for the next phase.
The Lupoli Cos. has purchased Ruk Realty Corp., owner of the 132,759-square-foot former Comfort Furniture building at 145 Thorndike St. in Lowell. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Lupoli bought the corporation and not the property directly. Lupoli signed a loan for up to $1.5 million loan on the parcel from Lowell Five Cent Savings to purchase the four-story property, according to public records.
For decades before Lupoli arrived in Lawrence, millions of square feet of Lawrence mill buildings stood vacant and decaying, an eyesore along I-495. Lupoli began his quest in 2003 when he searched for space to build a larger commissary for his growing chain. While one developer never delivered on a promise to transform the abandoned Wood Worsted Mill on Merrimack Street into condominiums, Lupoli bought an adjacent mill for $3 million in 2003.
Following the purchase of the first mill, Lupoli bought nine more dilapidated buildings on the 25-acre parcel that he renamed Riverwalk Properties, spending nearly $100 million on acquisition and renovation since 2003. The investment has paid off with nearly 200 companies and 2,000 employees.
Later, Lupoli spent another $20 million to renovate the three-story factory at 354 Merrimack St. into office and retail space that features exposed brick, wood beams and river views from floor-to-ceiling windows. Today, Lupoli oversees a family empire that started in 1990 with an 800-square-foot pizza shop in Salem, N.H. His holdings include more than three dozen retail outlets and $40 million in annual sales.
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04/22/2010 AT 07:03
Customers making reservations for trips taking place between April 22, 2010, and July 31, 2010, will get a 60% rebate. To be eligible for this discount, the tickets must be purchased no later than Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Time).
"Following the success of a similar offer in July 2009, we are pleased to be able to offer this wide scale repeat promotion within the same twelve month period" stated Marc Laliberté, President and Chief Executive Officer at VIA. "This offer arrives just in time for the summer period. We hope this will allow Canadians to better enjoy their vacations and make it easier for them to travel".
"At VIA, our highest concern is for our customers" added Mr. Laliberté, concluding that "This offer is our way of wishing them Bon voyage".
VIA Rail Canada is proud to introduce today significant service improvements to its Quebec City–Montreal route.
Metrolinx today purchased from CN the lower portion of the Newmarket Subdivision in central-north Toronto for C$68 million. The transaction gives Metrolinx end-to-end ownership of the 60-mile-long Barrie-Bradford GO Train corridor between downtown Toronto and Barrie, Ont.
Canada's Transport Minister announced the appointment of Mr. Marc Laliberté, of Boucherville, Québec, as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of VIA Rail Canada Inc. for a term of four years, effective January 4, 2010.
VIA Rail Canada wishes to advise travellers that effective Sunday, December 13, 2009, a new schedule will be in effect for service to Northern Manitoba.
VIA Rail Canada announced a $19.5 million program for the reconfiguration of 12 of the stylish stainless steel passenger cars used on its western transcontinental train.
VIA Rail Canada is pleased to announce that it will be increasing parking capacity at Port Hope station.
The Government of Canada and VIA Rail announced a $20 million program to renew and improve two key components of its nationwide locomotive and rolling stock fleet.
VIA estimates that it will invest as much as $7 million for the new station and related improvements from recent capital funding for VIA announced by the Government of Canada. $1 million of the project's cost will come from the government's Economic Action Plan.
VIA estimates that it will invest as much as $7 million for the new station and related improvements from recent capital funding for VIA announced by the Government of Canada. $2.5 million of the project's cost will come from the government's Economic Action Plan.
VIA Rail Canada announces the launch of the Montreal-Toronto Bike Train Initiative, offering outdoor enthusiasts an easy and comfortable way to discover some popular cycling venues in Ontario and Quebec.


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On Friday, computer chipmaker Intel Corp. blamed an internal misunderstanding for a data breach that caused it to issue an early quarterly earnings update. It said it was not affected by its corporate network.
The chief financial officer of the firm, George Davis, had previously told The Financial Times that on Thursday, Intel released its results ahead of the closing of the stock market because it suspected a hacker stole financially confidential information from the site.
The company’s quarterly earnings were initially expected to be reported hours later on Wall Street Thursday after the close of trade.
The newspaper cited Davis as saying, “An infographic was hacked from our PR newsroom site.” It cited an anonymous spokeswoman for the firm as saying that Intel was told that the graphic was circulated outside the company.
A stock trader may profit from early access to such data.
Intel released a statement on Friday that it had concluded that there was no hack.
The URL of our earnings infographic was unintentionally made publicly available before our earnings were released and viewed by third parties,” it said.” We immediately released our results statement after we were aware of the situation. Intel’s network was not affected and in the future we have changed our procedure to stop this.
The stock price of the firm closed down more than 9 percent Friday.


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A recent survey conducted by business outsourcing and research company Equiniti, found that a majority of wealth managers are hoping to outsource various parts of their businesses in the next 5 years, writes Holly Parmenter.
The survey, made up of 60 wealth managers, found that 70% of its participants were ‘looking to restructure their business by outsourcing some or all of their processing requirements’.
This is mainly due to the mounting pressures and costs of regulation as the survey found that 38% of wealth managers have changed their view on outsourcing as a result of regulation.
Only 12% of wealth managers see outsourcing as a means of developing strategic advantage.
Back office tasks were the most likely to be outsourced as 50% of the wealth managers surveyed said the custody of assets were already outsourced.
A fifth of wealth managers blame a lack of outsourcing solutions as an argument for not outsourcing.
Mark Taylor, managing director of Equiniti, said: "Wealth managers have to reconsider the structure of their businesses as a result of regulation and other factors, such as changing consumer demand."


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Corby Spirit and Wine Limited has chosen Havas Media as its Canadian media agency of record following a pitch. Havas will work on all media across Corby’s portfolio, including iconic brands Absolut and J.P. Wiser’s. “We sought collaborators experienced in driving business transformation and innovation. We were looking for a strategic partner. Havas Media has all those credentials, and more. We are excited to be partnering with them,” said Anne Martin, chief marketing officer, for Corby in Canada.
Creative agency The Garden has been named agency of record for strategy and creative for TEDxToronto. “If TEDxToronto was an agency, it would be The Garden,” said Gillian Cameron, co-chair at TEDxToronto. Aside from working to promote the Oct. 26 conference, The Garden is tasked with broadening the reach beyond the one day of the conference and outside Toronto’s downtown core. “TEDxToronto has built a strong reputation that attracts a passionate, engaged audience. Our objective is to expand its influence beyond the one-day event, into a yearlong initiative,” said The Garden’s Shari Walczak.
WestJet is working on a new night-light that will let the children of its frequent fliers track their parents’ flights in real time. Developed with Rethink, the “Flight Light” converts real-time data into a flight path that can be projected onto a ceiling. “Being away home can be tough and we wanted to develop a fun tool that could help families stay connected to the ones they love in a truly authentic WestJet way,” said Richard Bartrem, vice-president, marketing communications for the Calgary based airliner, which has been in expansion mode and introducing more long-haul flights. The “Flight Light” is still at the prototype stage, but WestJet said it will begin beta testing later this year.
National Toronto has merged its digital, marketing and technology practices into a single unit led by senior vice-president Erin Jacobson. National says “DMT” will offer a “one-stop shop” for a number of services that are increasingly important for marketers today: digital, channel marketing, earned media strategy and relations, paid media, influencer engagement, content and social strategy, community management and SEO/SEM. Reporting into Jacobsen will be Lanny Cardow as head of digital, Josh Norton as head of marketing and Megan Shay as head of technology.
The IPG Mediabrands agency Reprise has hired Nicole Simpson as vice-president, client business partner. Simpson was most recently VP client business partner at Cadreon. “Nicole is a seasoned media leader who is very adept at partnering with clients to successfully navigate digital silos and provide integrated, audience-first solutions,” said Matt Ramella, managing director, Reprise Canada.
Tim Hortons has extended its “True Stories” advertising theme to its annual Camp Day. The chain’s 45-year-old CSR campaign sees 100% of proceeds from every coffee purchased at participating Tim Hortons location go to Tim Hortons Foundation Camps, which help disadvantaged kids. Last year, Camp Day generated $13.1 million for the cause.
Advertising for this year’s Camp Day featured the true life stories of two woman who attended the camps when they were young. The creative is from Zulu Alpha Kilo, while North Strategic handled PR.
Skittles is showing its Pride with a series of initiatives including removing the colour from its packaging and candies to let the Pride rainbow take “centre stage.” The Mars Wrigley brand is hosting four LGBTQ2+ weddings alongside actor and performer Shangela at the first-ever Skittles Hall of Rainbows in Toronto on June 22.
Skittles is also working with three LGBTQ2+ program’s—Ontario’s Camp Rainbow Phoenix, B.C.’s CampOUT and Nova Scotia’s Youth Project—to send 150 Canadian youth to camp and will unveil the Skittles Pride Obelisk, a sound-activated light tower, at the Vancouver Pride Festival on Aug. 4.
“We believe our world is a better place when it’s full of smiles and allows everyone to enjoy their most fundamental human right to happiness,” said Jaclyn Sutton, head of strategy and marketing at Mars Wrigley.
When The Message launched in January, we established a few key topics that would guide our content decision making: Canadian innovation in marketing and communications, for example, along with advice and guidance to help a next generation of industry professionals, and the effects of digital on consumers and society. Oh, and anything Ryan Reynolds. The Canadian actor just released the latest video spot for his Aviation Gin. Most of the ad, called “Dedication,” focuses on Reynolds making special signature edition bottles of Aviation himself, but ends with a surprising Fyre Island twist.
As the official sponsor of the Toronto Raptors, Aviva Insurance wanted to show its support for the team as it plays in its first NBA Finals.
The solution is “Raptors Voice Insurance,” a website that lets visitors “save their voice” for game time so they can cheer their loudest when it really matters.
Created by No Fixed Address (from concept to live in 72 hours) the site’s “Game Day Mode” features pre-recorded everyday statements such as “I’m on it,” “That commute was painful,” and “Double double please.” The site also enables users to toggle between a male and female voice. Switching to “Game Time Mode” allows the user to supplement their own cheering with chants, cheers and other game time noises.
A new video ad with all of the frantic energy and attitude of a Nike spot appeared on YouTube and broadcast last week. It depicts a young female soccer player pushing herself to improve. The music pulses as she clashes with opponents on the field and drives herself to get better off it. It could easily be an ad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup that starts this week. It’s not until 20 seconds into the ad that the viewer realizes something isn’t right, as the girl falls hard and hits her head. The music is then accompanied by a buzzing sound, and the girl gets up to keep playing before collapsing again. The spot is actually an Ontario government concussion awareness ad called “The Risk.
Eataly has appointed BPR Inc. as its PR agency, in advance of its highly anticipated opening later this year. “Eataly Toronto will bring an entirely new retail-dining experience to Canada with its exceptional and authentic Italian food, service and restaurant offerings. We look forward to introducing Canadians to the brand’s immersive and interactive culinary concept,” said Shawn Rusich, president and founder of BPR. The 50,000-sq.-ft. Eataly location is opening in Toronto’s fully renovated Manulife Centre, and will be the chain’s 40th location worldwide and seventh in North America.
BBDO’s chief creative officer Denise Rossetto has been elected chair of the board of directors for nabs. “Over my career I have seen dramatic changes in the amount of pressure and demands put on our people,” said Rosetto in a release. “nabs has never been more relevant, important and essential to support all individuals in our industry. I feel it’s now my turn to give back to the industry that I have benefited so greatly from by leading the next chapter at nabs as Board Chair.” The appointment is for three years and Rossetto replaces lg2’s Jeremy Gayton.


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McDonald’s sales are soaring above even pre-pandemic levels as the economy roars back to life.
The largest restaurant company in the world said demand surged for its Big Macs, fries and Chicken McNuggets in the first quarter — thanks to coronavirus stimulus checks and the company’s vast network of drive-thrus. New menu items, including a crispy chicken sandwich rolled out earlier this year, and upgraded delivery service also helped the fast food giant beat Wall Street’s expectations, the company said.
McDonald’s US President Joe Erlinger said the latest round of federal stimulus checks likely boosted first quarter sales. But he added, “The positivity we saw in the first quarter was way beyond just the stimulus checks.”
Global same store sales in the first three months of the year rose by 7.5 percent, surpassing 2019 levels, the company said on Thursday. Sales were fueled by a whopping 13.6 percent increase in the US, the company said.
Revenue rose 9 percent to $5.12 billion, beating expectations of $5.03 billion. Global same-store sales climbed 7.5 percent in the quarter, surpassing 2019 levels. Net income grew to $1.5 billon from $1.1 billion a year ago.
McDonald’s drive-thru window business, which expanded as a result of the pandemic, contributed to the rise. The company said some 90 percent of its US sales in the quarter were made through drive-thru windows, up from 70 percent before the pandemic.
Improvements the company made to its food delivery as a result of the pandemic also helped as delivery orders, now available at 75 percent of its stores, tend to be larger than in-store orders, the company said.
“We’re two months past the initial launch of late February, and we still feel really good about the volume and unit movement that we’re seeing,” the company’s US president Joe Erlinger said about the new chicken sandwich according to CNBC.
The company said it is considering raising wages at its company-owned stores to address a labor shortage that has plagued the restaurant industry even as the economy recovers.
McDonald’s also raised its systemwide sales outlook for 2021 from growth in the low double digits to the mid-teens.
McDonald’s shares were up by less than 1 percent on Thursday morning.
“Our first quarter 2021 global comparable sales and revenues surpassed first quarter 2019 levels, even as resurgences and operating restrictions persist in many parts of the world,” chief executive, Chris Kempczinski said in a statement.


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California had record low rainfall in 2013. It was potentially the driest year in the last 500 years, according to tree rings, and dry weather is expected to last through 2014. The state's $44.7 billion agriculture industry may take a significant hit, and prices for foods that are water-intensive to produce -- such as beef, milk, and tomatoes -- might start reflecting California's water woes.
List of plants used in California drought tolerant yard :: OrganizingMadeFun.com native plants really save. low water use plants in the garden. Some cities are offering rebates to remove lawns. Article listing what was done, and plants used. PT 2 photos http://organizingmadefun.blogspot.com/2014/05/getting-front-yard-planted.html


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On the Menu provides the latest news from the Upstate’s culinary community, including new restaurants, new menu items and upcoming events, as well as details about local chefs. Submissions should be sent to email@example.com.
Due South Coffee making some changes
Some changes are taking place for Due South Coffee Roasters. First, the company is moving its roasting facility and operations from Taylors to Hampton Station in Greenville. And second, the retailer is planning a new location at The Commons, located within the new proposed city park at 159 Welborn Street.
“Due South is proud to join Hampton Station’s vibrant community of startups, entrepreneurs, artisans and visionaries fueling the energy and growth of the up-and-coming Water Tower District of West Greenville,” said Patrick McInerney, co-founder of Due South Coffee, in a news release. “Due South is looking forward to making Hampton Station its new home as we expand our wholesale and retail operations. With such a convenient location to our wholesale partners and our retail customers, we feel we are well positioned for our continued growth.
“Coffee and community are inseparable,” he said. “With these two new locations, we feel that we are much better poised to serve the Greenville community.”


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NEW DELHI: The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki said business and new launch plans will be impacted by disruptions around the coronavirus pandemic. But the company made it clear that it has no plans to slash jobs or salaries as a counter-measure.
Maruti chairman R C Bhargava said production schedules are being impacted by the restrictions as operations at many vendors have been hit on account of a variety of measures, including some falling in containment zones.
“We have no plans to reduce salaries, or jobs,” Bhargava said. The company, like all the other automobile majors, could not supply any new vehicle to dealerships in April as the countrywide lockdown meant that everything was shut — from factories to retailers.
Maruti resumed production at Manesar factory on Tuesday, and plans to start the Gurugram factory next week. However, there is still no clarity on when the Gujarat plant — owned by its parent Suzuki — would begin operations. Asked about his outlook on sales and by when the normalcy would return, the Maruti chairman said the situation remains fluid and there is still no clarity on the issue. “No one knows how the market will behave.”
Bhargava said one-third of the company’s dealerships have opened so far, as lockdown restrictions started coming off from May 4. The company reported a 28% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,322 crore in the quarter ended March 2020, hit by lower sales volume and increased expenses. It had logged a net profit of Rs 1,831 crore in January-March of 2018-19.


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Young boy petrified after witnessing Gate Pa theft
A Tauranga woman and her son are still shaken after witnessing a robbery and assault at a Gate Pa shop.
The woman who did not want to be named says she wants to get counselling for her six-year-old after the incident on Tuesday afternoon.
The pair had finished grocery shopping at Gate Pa shopping centre around 5pm and stopped at the store to get a toy when the robbery happened.
The owner of the business who also wants to remain anonymous says a young male and female tried to take clothing without paying, he and another staff member went to stop them and followed the couple outside.
He tried to stop the pair but was punched several times by the male and his female staff member was pushed to the ground, he went to help her and was punched in the back and back of the head, he says.
The pair left with the items after the scuffle and the male returned around minute later with a tyre wrench, says the man.
The woman shopper says he was swearing and talking about how his girlfriend had been hit during the fracas whilst wielding the wrench.
The business owner says the wrench was about 50cm long so he went in side to find a tool to protect himself with and upon seeing the item the offender left with no further incident.
The female shopper called police during the fight and the owner says the offenders were located about 30 minutes after the incident.
“My six year old son tried to get into it as well to stop them and he was screaming at them to stop fighting,” says the woman.
“He was petrified, I actually locked him in the car at one stage so that he would stop screaming and trying to get in there and stop it.”
“It was pretty scary and intense was just the whole situation wasn't very acceptable.
“It’s actually really scary, to be honest. I mean, robberies happen and as adults we can kind of cope, but having a young child, he did not cope with the situation.”
She says the owner is amazing and gave her son a jumper because he was cold and in shock when they were waiting for the police.
The owner says robberies have become more frequent and in the last two he and a staff member have been assaulted.
He says in the past if the store was robbed it was up to $100 worth of stock taken but now people are taking more and there have been incidents where the offenders had a car waiting.
Since the first theft and assault he hasn’t taken a day off because he is worried about his staff being hurt, he says.
He isn’t the only business in the centre that has to deal with thefts, he says.
A police spokesperson says police were alerted to a shoplifting incident at a Gate Pa business on August 18.
A 17-year-old male has been charged with a number of charges including shoplifting and common assault and he is due to appear in the Tauranga Youth Court next week, the spokesperson says.
“A 17-year-old female has been given a formal warning and referred to Youth Aid.”


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US digital ad revenues top $59.6 billion in 2015, up 20 percent to hit another high
The IAB's annual report shows growth continuing to come from mobile, which now makes up 35 percent of search and display ad revenues.
Another year, another record and double-digit growth for digital advertising in the US. Digital ad spend topped $59.6 billion in 2015, a gain of 20.4 percent over 2014’s $49.5 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual report conducted by PwC.
The chart below illustrates the 10-year growth in US digital advertising revenues from 2005 to 2015 in which the industry has seen a 17 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). 2010 was the year mobile began to play role in US digital ad spend totals. Since then, mobile has seen 100 percent CAGR compared to just 9 percent growth from non-mobile revenue over the past five years.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, digital ad revenues shot up past $17 billion for the first time, up from $14.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014. Revenues for the second half of 2015 were $32.1 billion, representing 54 percent of the annual total for the year, which is in line with the revenue split seen in past years.
Revenues still concentrated among 10 ad sellers
Just 10 companies accounted for 75 percent of all US digital advertising revenues in Q4 2015, up from 71 percent the previous year. This tight concentration of revenues in the hands of a few has been one constant in the industry throughout the past decade.
Mobile accounts for 35 percent of search and display revenue
The IAB breaks out mobile separately as its own to include any spending that occurs on mobile, whether its display, search or other, and that can make it a bit awkward to get a full perspective on how channels like display and search are affected by mobile spend. This year, the report shows format results both with mobile separated out as its own (pie chart on the left) format type and with mobile included (pie chart on the right).
When mobile is included (again, right pie), search continues to make up nearly half of all digital spend in the US, with display accounting for 42 percent. Overall, 35 percent of search and display revenues came from mobile, up from 25 percent in 2015.
Social Media ad revenue nears $11 billion
Spending on social media advertising increased from $7.0 billion in 2014 to $10.9 billion in 2015. This includes ads on social network in and social gaming websites and apps across devices.
Social media ad revenues jumped significantly in the second half of 2015, increasing from $4.4 billion in the first half of the year to $6.4 billion in the second half.
From 2012 to 2015, social media adverting has experienced 55 percent CAGR and accounted for roughly 18 percent of all internet ad spending in the US last year, up from 14 percent in 2014.
Digital continues to gain share of US advertising spending
In 2013, internet ad revenues exceed that of broadcast television for the first time, after surpassing cable television ad revenues in 2011. In 2015, digital continued to gain share, closing in on the total spent on all television spend (broadcast and cable).
“Internet advertising was a disruptive innovation when the industry was formed,” said David Silverman, partner, PwC US in a statement. “Twenty years later we still see double-digit growth rates, including 20 percent in 2015. Three key disruptive trends – mobile, social, and programmatic – continue to fuel this exceptional rate of growth.”
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.
New on MarTech


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EU Launches E-commerce Inquiry
May.07.2015 — Global Competition Review
Brussels-based Antitrust partner, Salomé Cisnal de Ugarte, speaks to Global Competition Review about the EU's competition inquiry into the e-commerce sector, which involves the EU Competition Commission collecting information from a broad range of e-commerce companies. The data will be used to gather market information and to assess whether companies' own practices hinder online competition. "Therefore, companies need to be very careful when responding to the questionnaires and data requests," Cisnal de Ugarte said.


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Killer B*****s of the zombie holocaust released jan 23rd!
It's been a long time coming.Many changes over the last few months have taken place and all for the better!
Dean Mitchell the series creator and myself have been gearing up for the series launch and with a brand new penciller onboard(to be announced soon!) it has been a pleasure to paint .
We are more excited than ever for the future of Killer B*****s!
Partnering with Hound comics has been a win win situation for us.The company has allowed us the time to bring you the best we can for the coming year. We are in good company,passionate people who are proactive in wanting to bring their A-game.
So here we are- issue 1 on sale on the 23rd and the beginning of a story that truely is more than another zombie tale.
To have some positive reviews back on the comic before its launch has given us a good understanding of what's working.
The comic has many genres at play-mainly horror,scifi and survival adventure.
Here is a preview of issue 1- http://www.houndcomics.com/previews/kbotzh/issue_01.html
But dont just take my word for it.It's out soon for you to make your own minds up! You can let us know what you think here- http://www.facebook.com/KBoftheZH?ref=ts&fref=ts or tweet us here- @KBoftheZH
Remember to support new comics and keep the industry alive!


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Time to say goodbye from all of us at bit-tech.net
Welcome challenger. Why not sit down, and play a little game?
Budget in price, mainstream in aspiration.
We put your questions to Blizzard about World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
Blizzard's Greg 'Ghostcrawler' Street says retail stores are still important for PC games.
The Shattering has begun in Azeroth as part of the run-up to Cataclysm's release.
Blizzard has claimed the PC games industry is in excellent health.
Blizzard has moved to ban players who have cheated in StarCraft 2, even if just in singleplayer.
Blizzard has announced a release date for WoW's latest expansion, cataclysm.
Blizzard has said that it would choose James Cameron to direct a StarCraft film.
Bryn has been immersed in the WoW: Cataclysm beta - now check out his thoughts!
We investigate how the latest hit RTS, StarCraft 2, scales across CPU cores.
Blizzard has sued a company that provided private WoW servers for $88 million.
Blizzard has patted itself on the back for using Battle.net to fight piracy.
StarCraft 2 doesn't limit framerates, creating overheating problems for some systems.
StarCraft 2 has finally landed, and we've been stomping Zerg like never before!
The NPD Group has finally begun collecting stats on digital PC game sales.
Blizzard has announced that it will abandon plans of rolling out Real ID features on the forums.
Blizzard has responded to the Real ID furore and fallout.
Blizzard have revealed that users wishing to post on their forums will soon need to under their real names.
Upcoming World of Warcraft update: Cataclysm is dabbling in updating its engine to support DX11.
Sam Raimi has revealed a bit about the WoW film he is working on.
We chat to Blizzard's Frank Pearce about piracy, mods and the relevance of e-sports in Europe.
Activision has revealed better than expected profits of $381 million in Q1 alone.
Blizzard has announced the official release date for StarCraft 2.
October 14 2021 | 15:04
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| May 23, 2010
CROSS VILLAGE, Mich. — In the mitten-shaped state of Michigan, there is perhaps no prettier roadway than the squiggly one up north bordering the outer tip of the state's ring finger. That's state Route 119.
It's formally known as the Tunnel of...
| Jun 10, 2010
The speed with which Chrysler Group recalled 25,000 Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass vehicles demonstrated how wary automakers have become of repeating the public relations debacle experienced by Toyota Motor Corp. over a series of large recalls and quality...
| Nov 5, 2010
| 1:55 PM
There is something about sitting inside the leather-covered interior of the newly redesigned 2011 Jaguar XJ that makes one want to use words such as pip pip, cheerio and all that rot. (Although finding some words in Hindi might be more appropriate,...
| Jul 26, 2010
| 7:32 PM
The way Ford Motor Co. figures it, Americans still want to tow and drive off-road with their SUVs, but they could do without all that gas-guzzling.
Throw in an electronics system that can understand up to 10,000 commands ("I'm hungry. Find me an ice...
| Sep 16, 2010
| 4:32 PM
Don Levy, of Birmingham, Ala., had one rule when he car shopped this year. Like the game-day shirts at his beloved University of Alabama, the car had to be crimson, white or gray.
"I'm an avid fan," said Levy. "So every car I've had and every car I...
| Feb 18, 2011
| 7:32 AM
The standard spare tire may someday be a thing of the past.
Weight and space considerations, automotive styling and wireless communications are pushing some auto makers to put run-flat tires on their products as standard equipment. Or to provide the...
| Sep 1, 2011
| 12:27 PM
It will take some time and a good amount of money, but city planners hope the historic Motor Row stretch of South Michigan Avenue will one day become a living showcase for the city’s blues and jazz legacies.
To help make that happen, a City Council...
| Oct 1, 2011
Just a year ago, no one could touch the kings of compact cars, the venerable Toyota Corolla and feisty Honda Civic.
Both stood so far above the more prosaic vehicles in the segment that they were automatic choices for most consumers.
But the segment...
| Oct 9, 2011
Few Americans have had as profound an impact on the culture as Steve Jobs, but 3 trailblazers come to mind.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a unique combination of creative innovator and savvy businessman. He revolutionized how everyday Americans lived...
| Feb 24, 2012
| 10:25 PM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday clarified that businesses affected by security restrictions during the G-8 and NATO summits in May will not be compensated if they close shop during the gatherings of world leaders.
“World Business Chicago and the...
| Feb 2, 2010
| 4:24 PM
by Mark Silva Will the president see his shadow in New Hampshire today? This could mark the start of a reset agenda for a White House still struggling to enact health-care reform while sharpening its focus on job creation. "Jobs......


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A Recent Video by Triumph Motors shows that the first lot of Triumph Speed 400 is ready to dispatch from Bajaj Auto plant in Chakan and it will be delivered to the customers by the end of this month or first half of august. Good news for those who have booked can check with the dealership nearby for the bikes availability. The next big development is that the booking amount of Speed 400 has increased from 2000 to 10000, due to its lucrative pricing and good bookings the price has been increased to cope with the ratio of production to delivery. Bajaj is all set to launch the Scrambler 400x in october, it has to scale its production and wants to ensure that prospective buyers aren’t left with a booking any more than required. That said, Bajaj is already working on scaling up the production numbers to match the demand.
Triumph retails the all-new Speed 400 at Rs 2.33 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) and offers it in three dual-tone colour shades, Carnival Red/Phantom Black, Caspian Blue/Storm Grey and Phantom Black/Storm Grey. The motorcycle is a modern-retro roadster and is powered by a 398 cc liquid-cooled DOHC single-pot mill, mated to the 6-speed gearbox.


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Bahrain-based Inagrab has raised seed funding from 500 Startups and a group of other investors, the startup announced last week without disclosing the size of investment but has told MENAbytes that it’s a six-figure (US Dollar) amount.
Founded in 2017 by Hussain Haji and Dr. Mustafa Marhama, Inagrab is an AI-powered deal assistant that optimizes seller performance by offering recommendations about when and where to promote the products. The platform does this by giving its users access to data from different sources and by providing contacts of potential companies/clients for lead generation.
Inagrab is a global product but the startup has recently also launched a localized version for MENA called ‘Dalooni.’ The startup was part of recently launched Flat6Labs Bahrain’s first cohort and has previously raised investment from Bahrain Development Bank’s Seedfuel as well.
The startup plans to use the latest investment on customer acquisition in GCC and Egypt, its founder and CEO Hussain Haji told MENAbytes.
Latest posts by MB Staff (see all)
- Egypt’s central bank to establish ~$58 million fund to invest in FinTech startups - March 20, 2019
- Uber launches slimmed down version of its ride-hailing app ‘Uber Lite’ in UAE & Saudi - March 19, 2019
- Jordanian online Arabic book retailer Jamalon raises over $10 million as first tranche of its Series B - March 19, 2019


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Our First Press Piece!
Designer Eric Garcia, a FIDM Alumni, launched a successful opening of his online store Son of León on March 12th. FIDM has written the first publication piece explaining the story and the experience behind Eric Garcia.
We are so proud to announce that FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) has written an amazing piece on Son of León! This is our first written publication which went live on the very first day we opened our online doors! Thank you so much to the FIDM team for seeing our vision and helping us spread the word! Please read the full story HERE.


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WASHINGTON, DC -- This week, the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University released a study on the impact of commodity price changes and higher input costs on its 64 crop representative farms, including rice farms, requested by Senator John Boozman (R-AR), ranking member on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee.
Generally, the report projects a profitable year for farmers of most major commodities, however rice is a clear outlier. Rice farmers will be most impacted by two years of stagnant commodity prices while facing drastic increases in production costs.
According to the report, “The 15 representative rice farms face the largest reduction in net cash farm income per farm ($880,000) and per acre ($442) relative to the other farm types…on average, 10 of the 15 rice farms are expected to face negative net cash farm income in 2022.”
The new AFPC report indicates a loss of $442 per acre in net cash farm income from 2021 to 2022 for rice farmers and represents a much larger increase in input costs than the $174 per acre increase that was reported in the previous AFPC study, released in February 2022, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
USA Rice sent a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in February 2022, outlining the industry’s unique financial situation and requesting direct assistance for rice farmers. Additionally, USA Rice has continued to provide economic updates and voice industry concerns to various Congressional and Administration staff throughout 2022.
“This AFPC report highlights how dire the situation in rice country is and the toll rice farmers are taking as they face depressed prices all while their cost of production continues to soar, simply put, most rice farmers will not be profitable this year and need assistance,” said USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. “This data will help us further refine our ask to the Administration and Congress to make sure it’s targeted to those who need it most.”
to view the full AFPC report.


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Companies reporting this week
CONCERNS over consumer confidence will be back in the spotlight on Tuesday when High Street department stores group Debenhams reports interim results.
The chain disappointed the City in January when it said that like-for-like sales in the 19 weeks to January 11 had risen by 2.8%. Fund manager Gerrard's expects the like-for-like figure for the half-year to be 2% and pre-tax profits at around £93m - just £1m ahead of last year.
After Tesco's 15% rise in underlying profits and 4.1% lift in like-for-like sales, takeover target Safeway is expected to sound a more pessimistic note with its fourth quarter trading statement on Tuesday. Analysts forecast flat like-for-like sales growth.
The figures will be keenly watched by the five parties circling Safeway and could determine the price of a bid from entrepreneur Philip Green - the only party whose interest has not been referred to the Competition Commission.
Argos and Homebase owner GUS issues its fourth-quarter trading statement on Wednesday but the update could give a fairly confusing picture because of the later timing of Easter this year.
The season is the busiest time of the year for Homebase, which was acquired by GUS at the end of 2002, so the group has decided not make publish March figures for the DIY store to avoid misleading comparisons.
Fund manager Gerrard expects Argos to outperform the rest of the retail sector but it will not be immune from the consumer gloom and like-for-like sales growth is unlikely to match previous quarters. Argos saw comparable sales growth of 7% over the Christmas period.
The last time engineering group Invensys issued a trading statement it warned that operating profits for the second half of its financial year - to March 31 - could fall up to 25% below the first half. On Tuesday it provides a pre-close trading update for the year to the end of March.
Chip-maker ARM Holdings gave a cautious outlook in January when it reported its results for the year to December 31 2002, saying revenues would remain 'flattish' for the foreseeable future.
It added that revenues in the first quarter would be at the lower end of expectations - prompting Gerrard to predict a 7% decline from the previous quarter to £30m in its first-quarter results on Monday.
The current analysts' consensus is for pre-tax profits of £5.8m in the quarter compared with £15.7m last year.
Household products group Reckitt Benckiser should reveal on Monday that the strong momentum seen in the final three months of 2002 has been carried forward into the first quarter of this year.
Underlying sales are expected to have grown by around 5%. However further improvement in gross margins is likely to be offset by negative currency movements and operating profits could be unchanged.
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Supply Chain Talent: How to Bridge the GapBy Guest Author Print
Supply chain organizations—overseeing the full span of activities from sourcing to production planning to delivery and service—are facing complex talent issues.
By Kelly Marchese
Today, as a profession, supply chain management finds itself in something of a crisis: Just as it is gaining stature functionally in enterprises, many organizations are confronting critical shortfalls of talent.
This insight is one of many in the recently released Deloitte 2015 Supply Chain Survey. Each year, Deloitte surveys supply chain leaders to discover their most relevant issues and the actions being taken to address them.
This year’s survey, taken in November 2014, confirmed the extent of the growing talent gap facing the profession. Supply chain organizations—overseeing the full span of activities from sourcing to production planning to delivery and service—find themselves with increasingly complex talent issues.
Rapid changes in supply chain activities, tools and goals call for new skills in management and leadership—skills that aren’t readily available in the talent pool. Furthermore, fundamental intrinsic and extrinsic generational needs create issues about how to motivate workers.
As Linda Topping, vice president and chief procurement officer with consumer packaged goods manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive, recently told IndustryWeek: “Supply chain management is getting exponentially more complex, so supply chain talent is the price of admission for the next decade.”
Deloitte’s survey focused on two primary groups: supply chain leaders and followers. To identify leaders, the company polled a population of senior executives, who were asked how their company’s supply chain performance compared with that of other companies in its industry on two metrics: inventory turnover and the percentage of on-time, in-full deliveries.
If the executives believed their performance was significantly above average for both metrics, their organization was designated a supply chain leader (8 percent). Conversely, if they thought their performance was less than that, their organization was designated a supply chain follower (92 percent).
Few of the polled executives expressed high levels of confidence in the talent in their field and in their organizations. Only 38 percent said they were extremely or very confident that their supply chain organization has the competencies it needs today.
However, the same executives were also hopeful about their supply chain talent recruitment, with 44 percent believing their organization can put the required knowledge, skills and abilities in place in the future. Supply chain leaders, in particular, maintain this hope, partly because they anticipate using nontraditional recruiting methods.
Using Nontraditional Recruitment Methods
The survey found that leaders are making extensive use of nontraditional methods to recruit (47 percent versus 12 percent of followers). They also drew on new or nontraditional talent pools (40 percent versus 11 percent of followers).
What does “nontraditional recruiting” mean? Here’s what Cisco did more than a decade ago. Lacking enough applicants for its high-skilled positions, it targeted “passive job seekers”—that is, people who were happy where they were but could potentially be persuaded to take a more attractive position.
Cisco hosted focus groups of desirable talent and discovered patterns in how they spent their time outside of work—at art fairs, home-and-garden shows, and microbreweries. Then, it started sending recruiters to those places to strike up informal acquaintances with potential recruits.
Today, many organizations are realizing it takes this kind of out-of-the-box thinking to recruit the talent needed for the supply chain.
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After the Storm
Following the excitement of Microsoft's purchase of Skype last week, which will have a big impact on all Microsoft's products, the company still has work to do to make its partnership with Nokia a success and to push the Windows Phone mobile platform toward wider success.
Naturally, rumors, leaks and educated guessing are helping play a part of what we think or know about will happen next as they try to challenge Apple and Android in the smartphone market.Their next big opportunity is the Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" upgrade, due later this year.
[UPDATE] There's an interesting rumor doing the rounds that Microsoft could buy Nokia's mobile unit outright. This comes from industry insider Eldar Murtazin and could shift the balance of power in this deal firmly Microsoft's way, more on this if there turns out to be any substance in it.
Better Comms, Office
For example, Microsoft is supposed to be incorporating some unified communications skills to the phone, so it will choose the best way to get in touch with someone, be it via Facebook, Instant Messenger, AOL or another service, depending what they are logged into.
For workers, we expect both SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service, and Office 365 to be integrated into the next update, allowing access to files and documents, with the possibility of editing within the web browser.
Both of these can make the phone more attractive to business users, but there are also social and gaming features that will help make the phones appeal to a wider user base.
Making a better Office on your phone
Nokia's Next Move
Microsoft isn't doing all the legwork in this partnership though. The word on the street is that Nokia's maps technology will likely replace what Microsoft currently uses in Bing Maps. Both have made huge investments in mapping, but Nokia's Navteq seems to have the high ground.
There are more features yet to be unveiled in Mango and we await the first WP7-powered Nokia phones. There's also the issue of what other phone makers will do in light of the deal, and we also wonder if Mango go into all Windows Phones or will the company limit it to new devices that spring from the Nokia partnership.


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Fleets that purchased optional systems and aerodynamic features for new trucks are averaging more than 7.5 miles per gallon, according to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency.
The voyage data recorder from the U.S.-flag cargo ship that sank Oct. 1, 2015 near the Bahamas was in good condition and revealed bridge audio, weather data and navigational data.
Members of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission voted in favor of requesting additional information from the four shipping companies planning to create the Ocean Alliance.
Registration takes less than 1 minute.
The Itasca, Ill.-based third-party logistics provider has added a 50,000-square-foot warehouse on the border of Shenzhen in southeastern China, 30 minutes away from the Port of Hong Kong and 45 minutes from Hong Kong International Airport.
Industrial conglomerate Honeywell is reportedly in talks to purchase JDA Software, one of the largest developers of transportation management system and warehouse management system platforms.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based transportation procurement technology startup Cargo Chief uses a technology-forward model that is aimed at rethinking the broker-carrier-shipper relationship.


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LG has announced that its G Flex handset will be coming to European shores in December once it has officially launched in its homeland on November 12.
The company says that Orange France will be the first network operator to start offering the phone – which curves from top to bottom and is therefore not to be confused with Samsung’s Galaxy Round, which curves from side to side — outside South Korea, and it will go on sale in time for Christmas.
So far, there’s no word on how much the device will cost early adopting Europeans but LG has confirmed that in Korea it will go on sale for 999,900 Won — that’s about €700.
Flexible display technology could prove revolutionary: if a screen can be bent in half or rolled into a cylinder, then companies will no longer be confined to building rigidly square or rectangular devices.
It would also mean that tablets could have massive 20-inch screens, but then neatly fold up to be easily carried in a handbag. That’s a vision of the future. In the present, because batteries, camera lenses, and processors are still distinctly rigid, all that’s possible are the curved handsets that LG and Samsung have just launched.
The LG G Flex uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor found in the Samsung Galaxy Note III and LG’s own less flexible G2 flagship — so it won’t be lacking for speed or multitasking performance. It also has a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a less than full HD, 720p display.
However, what it loses in resolution, it makes up for in Terminator-esque self-healing properties. Thanks to a special coating on its case, surface scratches on its sides and rear should magically disappear.


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Kerlink and IoT America will team up for creating a new service from IoT America, designed to support the clients to fully take advantage of the ecosystem
Kerlink, a global leading provider of infrastructure and value-added services for IoT networks, has entered into a partnership with Internet of Things America (IoT America), a company dedicated to deploying IoT solutions across rural America. This partnership has been initiated to ensure speedy and lucid transformation of the way businesses in rural areas work by enhancing the power, security and ease which the Kerlink platform provides to the businesses through its stations and core-network software.
As part of the association, IoT America is developing a first-of-its-kind practice with the support from strategic advisors who are primarily focusing on helping its clients change the way they work across their whole organisation. This includes implementing location functions like facilities, assets, safety and field services, as well as improving research and development (R&D), back-office systems and inventory management.
Benefit for clients
Commenting on the development, Jeff Klaumann, CTO, IoT America, said, “IoT America was founded to deliver the benefits of advanced technologies, connectivity and solutions to rural America. We are focused on addressing the needs of growers, producers, agricultural businesses and small towns. Our clients recognise the power of technology in optimising their operations, which has enabled new distribution opportunities for our solution partners.”
Yannick Delibie, CTIO and CEO, Kerlink, said, “Together, Kerlink and IoT America are a perfect match: Kerlink brings cost-efficient, mature and performant low-power wide-area connectivity for solution providers like IoT America to deploy and manage a growing number of smart-agriculture and smart-town use cases. These include crop, soil and weather analytics, livestock monitoring, asset and building management, metering and remote smoke, gas and fire alerting.”
“Kerlink’s one-stop-shop network-as-a-service full opex model also helps our partners to streamline their investment and to focus on sales and marketing activities, while leveraging from the start an industrial-grade and future-proof IoT dedicated connectivity,” said Delibie.
The two companies will also team up for creating a new service from IoT America that is designed to support the clients to fully take advantage of ecosystem of software, hardware and services in the marketplace. In addition, the new service will help the clients in discovering the highest-impact possibilities within their industries and rapidly develop LoRaWAN solutions with the help of proven methods, benefiting from industrial-grade and future-proof IoT dedicated connectivity.


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Governors from three meat-producing states today defended Beef Products Inc., the company that makes lean finely textured beef, which now-former USDA scientists nicknamed "pink slime," after a walk through the company's plant accompanied by ABC News.
"Let's call this product what it is and let 'pink slime' become a term of the past," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said after the tour, after which officials showed off t-shirts with the slogan, "Dude, it's beef!"
Stung by consumer reaction to the process used by BPI, grocery stores pulled beef containing the filler off the shelves and BPI closed three of its four plants for lack of demand. The governors said that the treatment the product received in the media was unfair because it is not only safe, but also nutritious and allows grocers to sell leaner ground beef at a lower cost.
"It's beef, but it's leaner beef which is better for you," Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad said. "We take this off the market then we end up with a fatter product that's going to cost more and is going to increase the obesity problem in this country."
ABC News joined Branstad, Perry and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on a tour of the facilities where beef scraps, mostly fat and connective tissue, are processed. The scraps are put through centrifuges to separate the fat and then through pipes, where they are spritzed with ammonia gas before emerging as a pink mix that is then frozen and sent all over the country.
Until recently, the lean finely textured beef, known to critics as "pink slime," was added to America's fast food, school lunches and 70 percent of all ground beef sold at grocery stores.
ABC News was not allowed to ask questions during the tour, but at a news conference later, the governors went on the attack.
Branstad, who received $150,000 in campaign contributions in 2010 from the founders of BPI, organized the governors' tour and press conference, but told ABC News that the contribution played no role in his decision to hold the event.
"I always fight for my constituents and I will always fight for what is right," he said.
Nancy Donley, president of Safe Tables, an organization dedicated to preventing foodborne illness, lost her 6-year-old son in 1993 from E. coli. Donley warned that doing away with lean finely textured beef will make the meat supply more dangerous.
The Safe Tables website until recently listed BPI as its largest funder, providing more than half the organization's budget. However, the disclosure of BPI's funding recently was removed from the website, with Safe Tables saying the donor now wishes to be anonymous. The relationship was not mentioned at today's news conference or in a recent ad in the Wall Street Journal in which Donley defended the company.
"No price can be put on my son's head," she said today. "I can't be bought and neither can my organization. We represent the victims."
Also on stage for the news conference was the Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, under secretary for food safety at the USDA. Hagen assured the public that the product is safe to eat, but still refused to answer any questions from ABC News after the news conference. ABC News has been asking to speak with Hagen for three weeks, but she has declined to speak, claiming a tight schedule.
BPI founder Regina Roth concluded the press conference by inviting the governors to chomp down on BPI-provided burgers complete with the lean finely textured beef they were defending and which the "pink slime" critics want clearly identified on packaging.
"We're going to have some burgers with LFTB in them, so come on in and let's go eat," she said.


text: Latest News Cohen’s Fashion Optical Names Haile Chief Marketing Officer By Staff Wednesday, March 19, 2014 12:18 AM GARDEN CITY, N.Y.— Cohen’s Fashion Optical has announced that Sheila Haile has joined the company as chief marketing officer. Haile brings over 15 years of combined agency and corporate experience to Cohen’s, including six years in the optical industry, recently as marketing director at ClearVision Optical. At Cohen’s, Haile will drive overall brand strategy and marketing initiatives for the company and its 130 franchise locations, while overseeing all external agency relationships. Her role will focus heavily on digital, e-commerce, social media and public relations, as well as traditional media and visual merchandising for all stores. Started over 85 years ago, Cohen’s Fashion Optical was ranked 8th in the country in sales for 2013, according to Vision Monday’s Top 50 U.S. Optical Retailers report. For 2014-15, Cohen’s is focused on a strategic growth plan including an outreach for new doors. Digital marketing and social media is seen as a key factor in the company’s overall growth plan, the company said.


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Early last year AT&T, the company that really started the network neutrality debate to begin with
, came up with yet another controversial new idea: charging app makers a fee if they wanted to send data to consumers without impacting their usage caps.
While AT&T presented the idea as akin to a 1-800 number for data or "free shipping," consumer advocates argued AT&T was simply imposing arbitrary caps, charging customers who crossed it, then charging the biggest companies yet more money so their content received special treatment.
The shift would give AT&T and Verizon new control and power over a content ecosystem and app marketplace that has traditionally operated better with carriers out of the way.
Most content companies, especially smaller ones, appear smart enough to understand the dangers of such a model -- with wireless carriers suddenly giving select, deep-pocketed competitors a huge leg up. AT&T had previously stated companies were clamoring for such a model, though they were only able to cite ESPN as an example of an interested party.
"We'll be able to come up with something that's a win-win" for both wireless carriers and content companies.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam
Speaking this week about the idea at an investor conference in New York, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam stated Verizon was also interested in such a model, again citing ESPN as the only verified company that has shown interest.
"ESPN has been one of the more advanced, I would say, in those sorts of discussions," stated McAdam to investor attendees, adding the company could also offer "1-800 type services" for video content. McAdam told attendees such an idea is "still a couple years out before it's a big factor," adding that "we'll be able to come up with something that's a win-win" for both wireless carriers and content companies.
It's rather less clear if this will be a "win win" for consumers or smaller content companies. Recall, Verizon has struck an LTE co-marketing arrangement with Comcast NBC Universal
, and the two companies are working on unspecified "magical
" video service collaborations. What if Comcast users got to bypass the Verizon LTE cap? What if Verizon's own Red Box service bypasses the cap? How would that impact Netflix?
Content development costs will simply get passed on to consumers, but now you'll have AT&T and Verizon picking application winners and losers based on who ponies up the most cash. Having network gatekeepers impose a completely arbitrary limit, charging everyone who crosses it, then charging some companies extra if they want special treatment. What could possibly go wrong?


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This morning BlackBerry announced that its Secure Work Space for iOS and Android, a component of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10) that lets IT administrators separate work and personal data on Apple and Android devices, received the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification. FIPS 140-2 is "issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the requirements and standards for certifying cryptographic modules," according to BlackBerry.
The BlackBerry 10 OS, which includes a similar segmentation tool call BlackBerry Balance, received the same FIPS 140-2 certification in November of 2012, two months before it became available. Today's news means government agencies and other organizations that require FIPS 140-2 certification for mobile-device security and management products can now use the iOS and Android management component of BES10.
Yesterday I published a conversation I had with Jerry Irvine, CIO of Chicago-based Prescient Solutions and a member of the National Cyber Security Partnership (NCSP), in which Irvine said MDM tools that separate work and personal data will be crucial for CIOs and IT managers to protect themselves from Internet-of-Things-related threats, among other future security risks.
BES10 isn't the only MDM product that enables secure segmentation of work and personal data on mobile devices, with FIPS 140-2 certification, but its support for BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices sets it apart from many comparable services from other MDM vendors.
Read more about BES10 Secure Work Space for iOS and Android here, and check out the company's press release one the new FIPS 140-2 certification on BlackBerry.com.


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SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday said it has joined hands with a local digital design firm to develop signage content.
Under the partnership with d’strict, Samsung will deliver new digital content for its LED signage products installed across the globe, including those in famous landmarks such as Times Square in New York, the United States and Milan Cathedral in Italy.
“Through the partnership with d’strict, Samsung’s digital signage not only can deliver information, but also can serve as a media art platform,” said Ha Hyesung, senior vice president of visual display business at Samsung.
Founded in 2004, d’strict is a renowned digital media content producer, having claimed various international design awards. In May, the company showcased a video art installation of ocean waves on Samsung’s giant LED signage at COEX in Seoul.
According to market researcher Omdia, Samsung was the top brand in the global digital signage market last year with a 27.3 percent share, keeping its lead for 11 consecutive years since 2009.


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Phosphorus Trichloride Manufacturers Continue to Battle with Soaring Raw Material Cost in India
- 14-Dec-2021 4:37 PM
- Journalist: S. Jayavikraman
Indian manufacturers have been battling with soaring raw material prices since past few months for different commodities. Yellow Phosphorus, which is an essential raw material for several commodities, remained unavailable for spot buyers while scheduled cargoes also getting delayed due to production halts in China. Several downstream derivatives affected by these consistent hikes, one of the highly affected commodities include Phosphorus Trichloride, which has risen exponentially due to critical scarcity of raw materials. As per ChemAnalyst data, an extreme hike in prices by around 24% was observed for Phosphorus Trichloride across Indian market within last 6 weeks.
The major reason behind these consistent hikes in price was production cuts for raw material Yellow Phosphorus in China. Since past couple of months, Yellow Phosphorus mining have been under strict control of Chinese government in compliance to the dual control policy in China. These regulatory measures were implemented after witnessing sudden rebound in global economy, which pressurised manufacturers to ramp up their production that intensified energy consumption of the country. To control this intensified energy consumption, government of China imposed production cuts on several facilities and even imposed temporary shutdowns on some domestic plants during September-October months. Due to these restrictions, Yellow Phosphorus output reduced by more than 50% for global market from China, pushing up prices of almost all downstream derivatives including Phosphorus Trichloride in the regional market.
Talking about the importance of Phosphorus Trichloride and Yellow Phosphorus in the global market, Phosphorus Trichloride is widely utilised product in agrochemical, textile, and plasticizers industries, while Yellow Phosphorus is the key raw material for several prime sectors. The impulse of these factors disturbed Indian market, as India is highly dependent upon China for imports of this key raw material.
As per ChemAnalyst analysis, Phosphorus Trichloride prices are expected to remain buoyant thus further sharp uptrend is expected in near term across global market. Reason behind these speculations are persistent halts on production of raw material in China coupled with high demand amid prolonged scarcity. However, these restrictions might show some ease in early Q1 2022, but prices are expected to take time to exhibit any significant decline in Indian market.


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LONDON — Gianni Versace is back in the land of rock and royalty — and he’s getting a legend’s welcome.
Monday night, the Victoria and Albert Museum will unveil "The Art and Craft of Gianni Versace," a retrospective of the late designer’s work and the biggest single fashion exhibition ever staged by the V&A. The exhibition, which officially opens Thursday, will run through Jan. 12.
"We have never done a designer exhibition on this scale — and we rarely ever focus on a single designer — but Versace is among the most significant of the 20th century," said Claire Wilcox, curator of the museum’s department of textiles and fashion who put together the exhibition. "He made a singular contribution to fashion, and everywhere in the world, people know the Versace name."
The show features 130 of Versace’s designs from the stage and runway — as well as some key looks from Donatella Versace’s collections. It’s organized, said Wilcox, according to Gianni’s obsessions, which included prints, leather, Baroque, jewels and embroidery, and — of course — the theater.
It will be the V&A’s and Versace’s second dance together. In 1985, the museum mounted a small show of the designer’s work, while some of his outfits are featured in its permanent international fashion display.
Donatella, who took over her brother’s design reins after his murder in 1997, said she has no problem with the new focus on Gianni.
"It was his dream — his aspiration —to do a big show at the V&A, a museum that he loved and which fascinated him," she told WWD. "I am proud and honored that the V&A wanted to do the show. And to be honest, Gianni was the genius, the master. I just make nice things — and I don’t mean that with false humility."
Older brother and company president and chief executive officer Santo Versace agreed. "Gianni was a genius and he represents Versace’s past. Donatella still has her whole life ahead of her. She is Versace’s future," he said in an interview.Santo, who will attend Monday’s opening night party with Donatella, said his brother considered London as much ahome as Milan or Miami. "In the spring before he died, he told me he was ready to sell the house in Miami and buy one in London. He loved London’s freedom and the fact that everyone can be themselves."
The show begins with Gianni’s blockbusters — the safety pin dress that put Elizabeth Hurley on the "It" girl map, the pale blue gold-studded evening gown worn by Princess Diana and, of course, an embroidered gold metal mesh evening gown. It ends with Donatella’s latest hits, including the Jennifer Lopez green dress with the deep-dish V neck and a black napa leather corset dress.
In between, Gianni’s colorful, explosive world unfolds. There are the prints — palm tress, motorbikes, gorillas, overripe roses, Medusa heads, Baroque motifs, animal skins, graphics, and Pop Art — and the leather: studded, sculpted, puffed and quilted, adorned with buckles and fringes and shiny buttons.
And who could forget the ballgowns? There are silk and taffeta confections, ones that sparkle with Lurex glitter or glow with silver sequins, gold embroidery or a rainbow of bugle beads. A closer look at them reveals Versace’s fashion education — not only are there references to Charles Worth, Madeleine Vionnet, Christian Dior and Balmain, but also the sort of decorative techniques used for 19th-century ballgowns.
Dresses inspired by classical drapery, pieces inspired by Byzantine art and eye-popping Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein-inspired designs are all on show. Versace’s costumes from the 1991 production of "Capriccio" at the Royal Opera House in London and the 1987 production of "Salome" at La Scala in Milan are part of the exhibition, including the sinister, stiff black-and-white Alice in Wonderland dress.
The show allows viewers to indulge their sense of touch. Donatella and Santo both agreed to hand over 10 garments that visitors can feel. "The tactile element is so important with Versace’s fashion," said Wilcox. "It’s quite special to touch the pneumatic leather coat and feel the coldness and weight of the metal mesh."
Wilcox said she built the exhibition on the groundwork laid by the late Richard Martin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who organized a retrospective just after Versace was killed in Miami.She spent a year traveling back and forth between London and the northern Italian town of Novara, where the Versace archive is located. "It was a pleasure choosing the clothes and accessories, but it wasn’t easy. The clothes just resonate energy. You could do a whole exhibition on his catsuits alone," said Wilcox. "I came away feeling exhilarated, excited and respectful for this person who lived life fearlessly, 110 percent."
The exhibition ends with a shop window showcasing a handful of dresses by Donatella. As Wilcox said, "We wanted to get the point across that Versace’s fashion is alive and well."
There'll be no rest for those headed to Europe for men's, as Paris just closed the gap with Milan. According to a provisional calendar released by the Chambre Syndicale, Paris Men's Week will now open a day earlier on January 16. See new highlights on the official lineup on WWD.com. #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @kukukuba)
BREAKING: Jonathan Saunders is leaving @DVF. The designer has resigned from his position as chief creative officer of Diane von Furstenberg, the company said in a statement on Friday. At the time of his hire, von Furstenberg said Saunders’ arrival symbolized and facilitated her stepping back from the day-to-day duties that occupy the work of a full-time creative director. The British designer joined DVF in May 2016 and was in charge of all product categories. #wwdnews
For @versace_official’s spring ad campaign, the brand emphasized the archival prints from the spring tribute collection dedicated to the late Gianni Versace. Closing out the show were five of Gianni’s favorite models: Cindy, Naomi, Carla, Helena, and Claudia. Bowing on December 18, the new campaign is yet another tribute to supermodel-dom as the images by Steven Meisel are fronted by @iamnaomicampbell, @cturlington, @gisele and more. #wwdfashion
Four-time Oscar-nominated actress Annette Bening has been waiting 20 years to play Gloria Graham in "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool," which will be released on December 29. The movie about Graham – a Hollywood star known for her controversial relationship with a younger Englishman named Peter Turner – is based off a memoir Turned wrote. "She felt vulnerable to him, because she loved him, she really did love him. And anyone that we really truly are in love with, we re vulnerable to in a very deep way," said Bening. Read our full interview with the modern icon of an actress on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @ninebagatelles; Styled by @cristinaehrlich)
The crisp white button down: a staple that can be dressed up or down and accessorized throughout the decades. Here, on a Art Basel-goer in 2017 on the left and on the iconic Audrey Hepburn in “Roman Holiday” in 1953 on the right. #tbt #wwdfashion (📷: Andrew Morales)
Known for her work with @victoriassecret, 25-year-old model @georgiafowler is raising her profile in Hollywood. Fowler stars in @vincecamuto’s holiday campaign, which launched in partnership with “Pitch Perfect 3.” “Almost every shoot with Vince Camuto, I’ve had to face a fear…It was definitely a challenge. I’m so grateful for it, though. I’ve always wanted to be a pop star, so that was the perfect chance,” Fowler said. Head to WWD.com to read about Fowler’s experience modeling, including at the #VSFashionShow, and her relationship with Nick Jonas. #wwdeye (📷: @jilliansollazzo)
EXCLUSIVE: Huda Kattan just became the first beauty influencer to land a major beauty deal. Kattan's business, @hudabeauty, has received a minority investment from private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners. The brand, which industry sources say is on track to do $200 million in retail sales for 2017, will receive support on product, retail and geographic expansion through the deal. Get all the details on the deal and read @_a_collins' interview with Kattan on WWD.com. Link in bio. (📷: @jgreenery) #wwdbeauty #wwdnews
Peruvian model @juanaburga_official – who is known for walking the runways of @rodarte, @viviennewestwood and @torybuch – is making the move to the big screen with drama “Los Últimos.” The film premiered in Argentina in November and arrives in the U.S. and Europe in 2018. On making the switch from modeling to acting, Burga told WWD: “It’s a completely different thing – a lot of people think it’s similar or try to connect things, especially like getting used to the camera or being looked at all the time or playing these different characrers, but film is a completely different story.” #wwdeye (📷: @jgreenery)
London’s newly opened @designmuseum will look back on the life and work of Azzedine Alaïa in a show that the designer helped to curate before he died of heart failure last month. The retrospective, which Alaïa had worked on with Mark Wilson, chief curator of the @groningermuseum, will look at the impact of his work worldwide. The show, “Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier,” will run from May 10 to October 7. Read more about the exhibit on WWD.com #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @zefashioninsider)


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P.E.I. will reap huge benefits by switching to the harmonized sales tax, says a professor from the University of Calgary.
Jack Mintz, an expert on tax law and public policy, was on the Island Friday to discuss his study of the HST with the Island business community.
His study, commissioned by Innovation PEI, predicts P.E.I. businesses will reinvest $560 million into the local economy in the first seven years after the province switches to the 14 per cent tax next April.
He also predicts $380 million of that investment will be in the Island workforce, resulting in higher wages, more jobs or a combination of both.
These economic spinoffs are a result of the nine per cent tax rebate businesses will receive on everything they buy under the HST.
But the study does not delve into potentially negative impacts of the tax, including the province's intention to apply it to items currently exempt from provincial sales tax, such as electricity.
Mintz said the switch will make P.E.I. businesses more competitive, by giving them the lowest effective tax rates in Canada.
The findings were presented at a meeting of the Charlottetown Chamber of Commerce.


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Sushi typically comes with fresh seafood on top of rice, and yes they are mostly dead, but Sushiro, a Kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) chain in Japan, served the exact opposite for one of its sushi variants.
Twitter user @shoumizo3446 recently went to a branch of Sushiro in Japan and ordered a plate of hokkigai (surf clam) sushi.
— ブッチー (@shoumizo3446) February 11, 2018
But the Twitter user got the surprise of his life when he specifically ordered an iki hokkigai – iki, or in this case ikizukuri, means the seafood part of the sushi is prepared in the store using a real, live seafood.
The clam nigiri still twitched and even responded to the touch of a chopstick by raising its appendage, as seen in the viral video that’s been watched over 4.1 million times on Twitter.
Many netizens argued that its twitching is not a sign of freshness; suggesting this is nothing more but a reaction from the surviving nerves that were not removed properly during preparation, according to SoraNews24.
Then again, if the nerves somehow managed to survive the preparation process then it could still be considered as fresh. The Twitter user had a blast with the dish, and said it was “extremely delicious.”
Images screenshot via Twitter / @shoumizo3446


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As China’s Yacht Market Grows, Chinese-Built Yacht Companies Emerge
This week, Bloomberg reported on the burgeoning China yacht market, as China’s billionaires delve into the secondary luxury market and turn their eye towards “Made-in-China” yachts. As Jing Daily recently pointed out, impending luxury taxes for heavily polluting items like private jets and yachts, which will levy a premium of anywhere from 400-2,000 yuan (US$62-308) per meter, could potentially slow the development of China’s yacht industry. Upon the imposition of these taxes, the resulting price difference could see aspiring yacht owners turning towards Chinese-built yachts and international luxury brands eager to launch joint ventures.
Many international brands have entered the China market only within the last year, meaning Chinese brands are entering the luxury yacht market very early on. As Gordon Hui, managing director of Sunseeker Asia, told Bloomberg, the early entry of these brands, and their deeper understanding of the way Chinese buyers actually use their yachts, may prove to be key advantages. As Hui points out, whereas Western buyers tend to spend days on their yachts, Chinese use their boats “no more differently than they would a karaoke lounge in the city.” As boat owners are restricted to China’s coastal waters, since traveling between provinces requires special permits, Chinese yachting enthusiasts generally use their boats for a few hours on weekends to entertain friends and business acquaintances, installing karaoke machines and mahjong salons rather than large sun-decks.
Growing confidence in China’s industrial capabilities is seeing more Chinese yacht companies cropping up, such as the Xiamen Hangsheng Yacht Building Co. Ltd. in Fujian province; Hong Kong-based Kingship Marine Ltd.; Sunbird Yacht Co. Ltd.; and Xiamen Hudson Yacht & Marine, each of which is ambitiously pursuing the Chinese market as well as overseas markets. With yachting culture still in its infancy in China, some of these manufacturers have looked to recruit foreign expertise in building authority within their company. Recently, Hangsheng collaborated with the U.K.-based design expert Bill Dixon, Sunbird debuted boats designed by Seattle-based Brian Holland, and Qingdao Nauticstar Marine Co. Ltd went the M&A route, acquiring the Italian yachtmaker, Cantieri Navali de Lavagna late last year.
While most Chinese-made yachts are of comparatively moderate size, Kingship Marine Ltd. is currently building the largest Chinese-built boat, a 45-meter (144- foot) vessel with a price tag of almost 175 million yuan (US$27 million), two-thirds of what it would have cost if it were built outside of China, according to Bloomberg. Also with an eye to the global market, Sunbird Yacht Co. Ltd. is currently building two vessels that will eventually be shipped to Italy and unveiled at the Genoa boat show in October.
While there is still a “made-in-China” bias to overcome in the international market, Peter Johnstone, a Xiamen Hudson Yacht & Marine customer in Newport, Rhode Island, is confident in Chinese companies, saying that “the quality and detail is on par with any of the top yards in the world.” Until quality perceptions outside of China can match that of major manufacturers, Chinese yachtmakers look to have no qualms about trying to tap the domestic market.


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Taking issue with Ford’s assertion that the Focus is the world’s best selling car, Toyota has announced that the Corolla was actually the most popular vehicle with consumers in 2012.
A Ford press release issued yesterday, citing data provided by Industry analyst firm Polk, claimed the Focus sold more than any other single model last year with 1.02 million units moved.
Speaking to Reuters, Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai claims the Corolla topped the Focus by over 100,000 units with 1.16 million cars sold during the year. “Toyota still sees the Corolla as the world’s most popular car,” Sakai claims.
While the Corolla sedan makes up 90 percent of that number, it also includes versions of the car in different markets, including the Corolla Altis, Corolla Axio, Corolla Wagon, Corolla Fielder and Corolla Rumion – all versions sold using the Corolla name. It does not, however, include Corolla-based models that aren’t marketed as such, including the Matrix, Scion xB and European Auris.
Discuss this story at ToyotaNation.com


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Who’s on the move?2nd February 2021 10:14 am GMT
Our monthly people news roundup highlights those in new jobs and highlights the tasks that await in their in-trays
Entain in flux
Shay Segev grabbed the headlines in January with his decision to quit Entain. He was fairly swiftly replaced by Jette Nygaard-Andersen, who was conveniently sitting on Entain’s Board of Directors and was delighted when the invitation came through.
Entain’s appointment of Nygaard-Andersen follows closely the template set by Flutter, when it looked at its Board and thought Worldpay UK CEO Peter Jackson would be a good choice to replace the departing Breon Corcoran.
Like Jackson, Nygaard-Andersen comes from an affiliated industry. The bulk of her experience lies with Modern Times Group (MTG), where she was chief executive officer of various units after joining the company from Accenture.
MTG evolved from a traditional television broadcasting company to a digital broadcasting company to an esports and video gaming company. Before it split the broadcasting and esports/gaming companies, it had annual sales of around SEK19bn (€1.9bn). MTG (the esports/gaming company) has annual sales of SEK4.2bn (€420m).
While her CV broadly fits with Entain’s evolution into an entertainment company focusing on the gambling industry, it is a big leap to jump from MTG executive to FTSE100 chief executive, with all that that entails.
However, this is what career progression is all about. And in this regard, she will be assisted by chief financial officer Rob Wood, who was appointed almost a year ago after six years as CFO of the retail division.
CFO Wood is promoted to CFO and deputy CEO with responsibility for all retail operations and M&A. It is the latter that will be all-consuming in the short-term (especially with retail outlets closed).
While MGM seems to have cooled its interest for now, the company is facing a shareholder revolt over its proposed £250m takeover of Enlabs. Alta Fox Capital Management claims the bid undervalues Enlabs by nearly 40 per cent. Entain is also understood to be in negotiations to acquire a £100m esports company. That might play more to Nygaard-Andersen’s experience.
What next for LVS?
Las Vegas Sands also had a change at the top after the death of founder Sheldon Adelson. Long-serving former president and COO Robert Goldstein took over as chairman and CEO following a short spell as acting chairman and CEO as Adelson’s health declined.
The real interest for the iGaming community was whether this sparks a change of tack with regards to LVS’s lobbying efforts. That question received a swift response when Goldstein said the company would consider a few opportunities to expand into online gaming, although details were thin.
Who is creating a Buzz?
Buzz Bingo appointed industry veteran Dominic Mansour as its new chief operating officer. Mansour has been around the block. He was CEO at Bragg Gaming until founding shareholder Adam Arviv decided he could do a better job in the chief exec’s seat himself. Mansour has had spells at PokerStars, GTECH, the Health Lottery, and Globalcom among others. Highly rated chief digital officer Stevie Shaves has been promoted to chief commercial officer.
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) finally recruited a new CEO with chief legal and enforcement officer Carl Brincat picking up the role vacated by Heathcliff Farrugia last October. Farrugia’s number two departed with him. Brincat’s first job will be to reassert the MGA’s reputation in the international marketplace. The European Union’s continuing concerns over its investigation and prosecution of money laundering will be an immediate priority.
Back in the US, Penn National and MGM Resorts gained new finance chiefs. Felicia Hendrix joined Penn from Barclays. Her predecessor David Williams stepped down from his role due to the pressures of working remotely from the West Coast and a reasonable desire not to uproot his family in the midst of a pandemic.
Former Caesars CFO Jonathan Halkyard joined MGM Resorts after eight years working in other industries. His relationship with joint venture partner Entain and its new deputy CEO will be one to watch.


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The first no-code platform to allow writers to turn their stories into fully-illustrated animated games enters partnership with leading Hollywood studio to launch events that will empower independent writers to expand and monetize well-known IP, starting with Lionsgate’s Blair Witch
Dorian, the first ever no-code platform that allows independent writers to easily transform their stories into playable immersive games, has partnered with global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) to empower fiction creators to expand the stories behind some of Hollywood’s most popular franchises. Through this unique partnership, Dorian and Lionsgate will launch official events tied to well-known Hollywood IP, calling for creators to write and submit their fanfiction for a chance to publish licensed playable games on Dorian, opening the door for potential revenue while expanding the creator’s growth opportunities. The first major franchise to kick off the partnership is the iconic Blair Witch. In addition, Dorian’s audience and creators are primarily women and people of color, highlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion in the creator economy.
“When we were first introduced to Dorian and the opportunity it brings to creators, we were immediately hooked on the idea of working with them,” said Jenefer Brown, EVP, Global Live Interactive and Location Based Entertainment of Lionsgate. “We are always looking for new and inspiring ways to engage with female creators and diverse communities, and through Dorian’s platform, content creators can explore new pathways to a narrative experience within the universe of the Blair Witch.”
Beginning October 15, 2021, creators who are residents of and located within the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Philippines can submit their Blair Witch fanfiction through the Dorian app for their chance to win. Submissions will be accepted until October 31, 2021, just in time to kick off the Halloween season, and the grand prize winner will gain access to a virtual meeting with a Lionsgate Senior Motion Picture Executive. In addition, the winner’s story will be significantly featured and promoted in the Dorian app with the chance to make revenue off of their new fanfiction playable game, they will be offered a generous amount of Dorian currency that can be used to access premium content on the platform, and they will receive custom cover art for their story created by Dorian. Breathing new modern takes on the Blair Witch franchise, creators must follow the prompt below to develop their story:
Horror tourists and fans congregate in Burkittsville, Maryland for a 3-Day Blair Witch themed music festival! Séances, rituals, and spooky-themed scavenger hunts fill the once frightening Black Hills Forest. As a hit horror streamer, you think you can brave just about everything—right? Your plan: Break the internet by taking on the #SurviveTheWitch challenge. The horrific twist? The festival’s organizers have something wicked in store for the young influencers in attendance. Will you and crew survive a night in the Black Hills Forest… or end up livestreaming your own deaths? #BlairWitchFest
Creators can sign up through the Dorian app to be alerted when the contest submission period opens. In addition, once the stories are submitted, the creators of compliant entries can leverage the many gameplay features tied to their game, including livestreaming the gameplay with friends and followers, challenging them to choose where the story goes and survive #BlairWitchFest.
“We created Dorian with the goal of establishing a new creation and monetization platform for writers that allows them to connect directly with fans in a new, interactive way,” said Julia Palatovska, Co-Founder and CEO of Dorian. “Partnering with Lionsgate will unlock a brand new fanfiction world — one where independent creators not only expand their favorite IPs, but also make money doing so.”
The platform, which is backed by Silicon Valley VCs and angel investors including Kevin Lin (Co-Founder of Twitch), includes the following aspects:
- Allows writers to easily turn their stories into fully-animated games that can be played worldwide, as well as broadcast interactive live shows to unlimited global audiences, host book clubs and let attendees vote on choices to determine where the story goes.
- Offers a new revenue opportunity, more ways to connect with fans, and powerful analytics tools traditionally only leveraged by game studios, allowing writers to understand how to engage their audiences and turn their readers into loyal fans.
- The platform’s audience and creators are majority women and people of color, highlighting the importance of inclusion and diversity in the creator economy. As part of its ongoing growth, Dorian will continue to prioritize elevating women and underrepresented communities to ensure strong and diverse stories are told through the platform, and uniquely positioning the platform to become one of the largest interactive entertainment platforms for women.
The platform already has many creators making money, with some having doubled their average revenue per fan since March 2021, and with this partnership, Dorian and Lionsgate are breaking new ground by not just allowing, but encouraging creators to expand the narratives behind well-known IP. For the first time, independent creators can tap into Lionsgate’s Blair Witch universe and monetize their fanfiction.
For more information on Dorian, please visit dorian.app.link.